A WEATHER watchdog is warning people in South Tyneside to batten down the hatches as the borough braces itself for gale-force winds.

The Met Office has issued a ‘be aware’ weather warning as winds of up to 70mph are set to batter the borough today – and snow could also arrive tomorrow.

Liz Martin has instaled a weather station at her home.

The bad weather is due to a rapid cyclogenesis – which is also known as ‘weather bomb’ – a deep low pressure system moving slowly eastwards between Scotland and Iceland.

Liz Martin, who runs South Tyne Weather from her garden in Jarrow, says that, while it will be blustery in South Tyneside, she believes the west of the country will be hit the hardest.

She said: “It’s called a weather bomb because of how quickly the pressure inside the storm has dropped.

“It’s going to feel really cold and just generally very wintry.

“It’s definitely going be a bit wild and windy.

“The bomb is staying by the coast of Greenland, or at least that’s what looks likely, but the effects are going to be well felt, especially in Scotland and northern England.”

She added: “I think the west will get hit the worst but there will be definitely gale-force winds for our region.”

The Met Office is predicting temperatures of no higher than 6°C today.

However, the wind chill factor will make it feel more like -3°C.

While tomorrow the thermometer will see highs of 5°C, and a chance of snow is expected between 6am and 9am.

Saturday is expected to be the coldest with highs of just 3°C, and a wind chill factor of -5°C.

Liz is doubtful that there will be much snow tomorrow, but she says there is a chance the borough could be expecting a white Christmas.

She added: “There’s a definite chance of snow showers tomorrow, but it’s hard to say if it will be enough to lie

“I don’t think it’s going to turn milder anytime soon, the Christmas day forecast is now within the 16-day models, and the first ones yesterday had us down as blue, which is super cold and could well mean snow.”